Opinion

Pep Guardiola watched on as his Manchester City team progressed to the 2026 Carabao Cup final, as they overcame Newcastle United.

Leading 2-0 from the first leg at St James’ Park, Man City won 3-1 at home on Wednesday night to make it 5-1 on aggregate.

Key to this two legged semi-final victory was Antoine Semenyo.

Previous to this season, the talented attacker would have been unable to play in this semi-final, however, ahead of this season in the competition the rules were changed to help the likes of Pep Guardiola and Manchester City.

Semenyo would (should!) have still been cup-tied as he had already played for Bournemouth this season in the competition. However, the rule change means that now the rich and powerful clubs can buy elite players mid-season and parachute them into the closing stages of the Carabao Cup.

On top of Manchester City taking the proverbial with everything else, especially the no announcement yet on the 115 Premier League charges after years of waiting, now Pep Guardiola has shown absolute entitlement with his post-match comments after the win over Newcastle United.

Manchester City signed Marc Guehi after the Carabao Cup deadline date,...